James Andrew Donohoe (1852-1934)
|long_name=James Andrew Donohoe |birth_year=1852 |birth_locality=Hay, New South Wales |birth_nation-subdiv1=New South Wales |birth_nation=Australia |birth_sources=BDM Index ref for birth: V18541152 40/1854 |death_year=1934 |death_month=06 |death_day=26 |ifmarried-g1=true |wedding1_year=1874 |wedding1_locality=Hay, New South Wales |wedding1_nation-subdiv1=New South Wales |wedding1_nation=Australia |remains_locality=Hay, New South Wales |remains_nation-subdiv1=New South Wales |remains_nation=Australia |remains_street=Church of England section, Hay Cemetery |globals= }} Biography Obituary Mr. James A. Donohoe. We regret to have to record the death of Mr. James Andrew Donohoe, who was one of the oldest and most respected residents of Hay Mr. Donohoe, who had been feeling the weakness associated with advancing years, had not been in robust health for some time, and the end was therefore not unexpected. He maintained his faculties, however, until the last. On Tuesday morning, when he awoke, the first thing he asked for was information about how the Australians had got on in the test match. By 7.30 p.m. on the same day, he had passed peacefully away, practically in his sleep. The death of the deceased gentleman took place in the home of his youngest daughter, Mrs. R. Eager, of Pine Street, where he had spent the evening of his days surrounded by every comfort and in the congenial surroundings of members of his family. James Donohoe came to Hay, a boy, with his father, in 1864, seventy years ago. He had lived here even since. He was born in Lambing Flat, now known as Young, and was between 82 and 83 years of age. His father, Andrew Donohoe, was the son of a private soldier in the 17th Regiment, who arrived in New South Wales, in 1826, bringing his child of three years, Andrew, with him. Mr. Andrew Donohoe was reared in Sydney until he was 18 years of age, when he came up country and was employed as a manager for Mr. Hill, at Yanco. During his stay there he several times took mobs of about 300 cattle to Sydney with only a black boy to help him. After some time on Yanco, he went into business as a wholesale butcher, but in another two years he went to the goldfields to take possession of a hotel he had bought into. On his way there he was accosted by bushrangers who took his stock of liquor from him. He then turned his attention to prospecting at Lambing Flat, and while he was there his eldest son, James Andrew Donohoe was born. After embarking in some other ventures at different places, Mr. Andrew Donohoe came on to Hay, where he remained until he died at the end of 1914, at the age of 90. In one of the floods which, earlier, visited Gundagai, Mrs. Andrew Donohoe was cut off by the waters and had to take refuge in a tree with her infant son, James A., and another woman, for thirteen days. Mr. Andrew Donohoe arrived in Hay in 1864, and on the 1st of January, 1865, he commenced a butchering business on the site where the two-storey portion of the Crown Hotel now stands. His young son, James, helped him with that business and eventually acquired it from his father, taking a Mr. Brown into partnership. After about four years, Mr. Andrew Donohoe bought into the busi- ness again, releasing his son for other enterprises. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Donohoe had a family of eight sons and six daughters, the eldest being James Andrew, the subject of this notice. When Andrew Donohoe died at the ago of 90 years, in 1914, six sons and two daughters survived him, but his wife (James Donohoe's mother) who also died at May, had predeceased him by twenty-four years. When James Donohoe was, as it were, left to his own resources, he soon had a number of irons in the fire all of which were associated with horses. He conveyed the first regular mails for Sydney, from Balranald to Wagga Wagga, by means of a packhorse, and afterwards became the successful contractor for the mail service between Hay and that town by coach. He was then only twenty-one years of age. His practise was to drive the coach from Hay to Narrandera, hand it over to Mr. Harry Adams to take it to Wagga and back, and then return to Hay with it. In those days it was but a once-a-week service, Before this contract had expired he sold out to Cobb and Co. (Robertson Wagner and Co.), which firm had come into the Riverina from Victoria. His activities were all associated with stock, especially with horses and cattle. He was passionately fond of horses and knew how to handle them. In 1870, with a partner, he spent three months on Waljeers Station, running in wild horses. They had to rough things very much, as owing to the flooded state of the country they had great difficulty in obtaining provisions, but felt that they would be repaid for all hardships when they sold the horses. They took two hundred head of clean skins to Bendigo, and netted two shillings and sixpence per head, a most disappointing result. It would be difficult for anyone now living to remember exactly the various things which Mr. James Doiiohoe did in the seventies, but they were mainly incidental to butchering and dealing. His services were frequently requisitioned as an amateur rider, in which he had considerable success at Hay, Rudd's Point, and other meetings in the district. On February 15th, 1874, he was married at Hay, to Miss Annie Elizabeth Butterworth, the eldest daughter of Mr. George Butterworth, Hay's leading auctioneer of those days, and a sister of Miss Butterworth, now of the Butterworth Memorial Hostel, and of Mr. W. G. Butterworth, now of Pine Street. On the same day, and at the same place, Mr. James Donohoe's eldest sister Johannah, was married to Mr. John Donohoe, of Campbelltown, who was her cousin. From our files, from which much of the information in this notice is extracted, we learn that in the same week, three other marriages were sol- emnised at Hay, and all by the same clergyman, the Rev. S. A. Hamilton, Presbyterian minister. And it says much for the tolerant wavs of those old days that not one of the contract- ing parties was a Presbyterian. Mr. James Donohoe's wife died at the end of 1897. At that time, the surviving family of Mr. and Mrs. James Donohoe consisted of three sons and three daughters. Five children had predeceased her. Since Mrs. Donohoe's death, a son, Harold, lost his life on active service in Egypt. The surviving family of the late Mr. and Mrs. James A. Donohoe are: Mrs. George Horton (Esther Caroline), Mrs. Chas. Horton (Hannah), Mrs. Eager (May Evelyn), George (now in W.A.) and William R. Donohoe, of Hay. The only surviving member of Mr. Andrew Donohoe's family is Walter Les., younger brother of James A. Donohoe. The deceased gentleman was of the most unassuming and kindly disposition, and that being so it is not surprising to learn that he devoted a great deal of his time to the furtherance of the Has Hospital. There are few men or women who have done more. He was for very many years a member of the committee of management, and an active member too. He was also a trustee until the passing of the Hospitals' Act which constituted the Board of a hospital a corporate body. Old timers will remember the strenuous work he put in on first the Foresters' Fete, and afterwards the Friendly Societies' Fete in aid of the Hospital. As a collector, for the hospital he was unsurpassed. In fact, it may be said that when he was an active' business he was the first one appealed to for aid when it was desired to raise money for a worthy charitable object. Perhaps a great measure of his success as a collector was due to his own promptness in responding to appeals by dipping his hand into his own pocket. He was never known to say "no" to an appeal of any worthy kind, and we are afraid that he not infrequently taxed himself unduly by responding to demands for cases and individuals, which had very little, if any, claim on him. Moreover he provided "well for his own, and especially those of his own house." He certainly was a cheerful giver, and when he went out to raise money on behalf of some deserving cause, he was a jolly collector. Another public utility to which he rendered continuous and material assistance was the Hay Shotw. For a long period of years he was an active member of the committee, his knowledge of stock render- ing his services specially valuable. Up to as late as last year, he acted as handicapper of the trotting horses. He was a foundation member of the Court Waradgery Ancient Order of Foresters, now merged into the M.U.I.O.O.F., and rendered his court valuable aid. But perhaps his longest record of service was with the race clubs, especially the Hay Jockey Club and the old New Year's Race Club. He was never absent from the meetings—whether of committee or of racehorses. He owned and raced horses, as his father did before him, and supported the clubs, not only of Hay, but of the towns in the district. He was a skilful horseman although he could not ride under welter weights, and he was unsurpassed as the rider of trotting horses. Old-timers still refer to his exploits on the trotter, Abe, as amongst the noteworthy events of the Hay racecourse. In private life, he made hosts of friends. If he ever made an enemy we never heard of it. He was a good raconteur, and could remember a good many incidents of the beginnings of Hay, having been living here before there was a municipality, a water supply or a bridge. In connection with the latter, one of the memorable incidents of his life, was, when, at the official opening of the Hay Bridge, in 1874. he drove Mr. Henry (afterwards Sir Henry Parkes) in a Cobb and Co.'s coach, from Echuca to Hay to perform the ceremony. The funeral, which took place on Wednesday, was very largely attended, town and district residents being well represented. The interment took place in the Church of England burial ground (the older section) of the Hay Cemetery, in the family grave. The service was conducted by the Rev. Canon Thompson. Members of the Murrumbidgee Lodge of Freemasons were present, and the ceremony of that Order was carried out by the W.M. Mr. L. F. Brunker, assisted by Acting Chaplain, Mr. T. F. Cook. A very large number of beautiful wreaths were sent, including tributes from the Hay P. and A. Association, the Hay Jockey Club, the Manchester Unity I.O.O.F., and the Murrumbidgee Lodge, and private wreaths from relatives, friends and business firms. :: __SHOWFACTBOX__ Category:Ancestry from Ireland Category:Ancestry from England Category:Resided in New South Wales